In the morning we hopped in the 'stang + headed towards San Jon. A few minutes later J was pulling the car over with me hanging halfway out the window, camera in hand... cursing under my breathe about how I had forgotten my zoom lens at home. Perhaps antelope?

A short drive from San Jon the paved road ended and we sat back + absorbed the quiet nothingness around us, and the sound of stones ricocheting off the underside of the car. After a long stretch of no signage, no buildings and no soul to be seen, we began to wonder whether we had missed a turn off... but after examining our roadmap I was convinced my navigations were solid... that we were in, around or between Bard and Endee... or so I hoped.

Just as the words left my mouth, a motorcyclist waved us down. With no helmet and a sun-beaten naked head, he asked us if we knew R66 in this area, and whether he had missed a turn. I bit my lip as I told him my conclusions (...a wrong navigation in an air-conditioned car with a case of water in the trunk is not exactly a problem... but baking in the relentless sun on a bike... egads). We drove on + drove on, guilt slowly consuming me... + finally breathed a huge sigh of relief when we passed a sign reading Access to I-40 5 miles ahead. We passed + were passed by this friendly R66 road warrier a number of times through the rest of the day, but once we crossed the stateline into Texas he disappeared.

In Glenrio, Texas, we stopped momentarily at the side of the road and turned off the car to absorb the familiar eerie surroundings + the dogs barking in the distance.

Once in Adrian we passed the Bent Door (a former R66 roadstop), and then stopped for a R66 breakfast at the Midpoint Café. The folks at the Café claim that this spot is the midpoint of R66 (1,139 miles from Los Angeles and 1,139 miles to Chicago). If you ever find yourself 'round these parts, make a point of stopping by this lovely little place for a delicious bite + some true Texan hospitality. With full bellies (+ a free bumper sticker to boot!) we continued through Vega, Bushland and Wildorado without stopping.

About 5 miles West of Amarillo we hopped out of the car to re-investigate Cadillac Ranch. Once again we were unprepared... but luckily found some abandoned not-quite empty spraypaint cans to mark our 2nd visit.

In Amarillo we stopped to browse through a consignment store packed to the brim with knick knacks, and chatted with the owner about R66. We asked her about the kitschy sign art throughout town, and (as the broiling early afternoon heat oozed through the open storefront door) she told us stories about the late Stanley Marsh 3, a local folk artist who had lived in her area since her childhood. Apparently Stanley died just recently, and there was an impressive gathering from worldwide travellers to pay thier respect.

Every town has a mysterious character or family about which locals love to dream up scarey stories. As a teen, the store owner + her girlfriends would drive by the foot of the Marsh driveway and "glare up at the mysterious house". On one occasion they dared eachother to touch the house... but only made it halfway up before running off!

In the 1970s, Marsh collaborated with the art group Ant Farm to create the Cadillac Ranch. Marsh has funded other public art projects in Amarillo besides Cadillac Ranch, which include the "Dynamite Museum", an ongoing project consisting of hundreds of mock traffic signs. These signs, bearing messages such as "Road does not end", "Lubbock is a grease spot", and "I have traveled a great deal in Amarillo", may be found
throughout the city of Amarillo. A series of the mock traffic signs are also displayed in Adrian, Texas, about 45 miles west of Amarillo. Marsh was said to have wanted the signs to be placed in towns beginning with the letter "A"....

Despite the attention of the art projects sponsored by Marsh, critics have called them eyesores with little or no artistic value. In response to the criticism, he is quoted as saying, "Art is a legalized form of insanity, and I do it very well"... [wiki]

As we left the store I was clutching my newly acquired metal linotypes... lovely additions for my budding collection. Ü

Just past McLean we kept our eyes peeled for remnants of the RATTLESNAKES EXIT NOW sign, which had been torn half-apart by a storm shortly before our first visit last year. We were expecting all signs of the landmark to be completely gone, but were surprised to find the signage in the same disrepair, with EXIT NOW still visible to passersby. We longed to hop the surrounding fence and scour the ground for fallen rattlesnake letters, but wouldn't dare remove remnants that were meant to wither away exactly where they already lay.

In Shamrock and Sayre we successfully visited 2 more lovely letterboxes. By the time we arrived in Clinton, Oklahoma the sun was setting, so we parked the 'stang for the night... and gave in to dreams of visiting a giant blue whale....